UF Online and Electronic Communications Subcommittee Report

Strategic Communications Committee Online and Electronic Communications Subcommittee

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Draft — September 5, 2009 Members: B. Floyd, J. Frey, M. Gonzalez, C. Lee, N. McKeen, H. Monkhorst, D. Shields, C. Schoaff (Chair), J. Stevens, T. Wroath Table of Contents

Mission...................................................................................... 2

Executive Summary .................................................................... 2 Next steps ....................................................................................... 3

1) Coordinate and Collaborate 2) Train and Leverage 3) Plan, Execute, Review 4) Continuously Improve

Social Media Communications....................................................... 4 Social Media Communications Overview ............................................... 4 What is Social Media? ........................................................................ 4 Social Media -- Best Practices ............................................................. 4 Twitter — Best Practices .................................................................... 5 Facebook — Best Practices ................................................................. 6 MySpace — Best Practices.................................................................. 7 Social Media Communication SWOT Analysis......................................... 8 University Critical Path Twitter Accounts............................................... 9 University Critical Path Facebook Page ................................................. 9

Online Communications ..............................................................11 Online Communications Overview — Web Sites, Wikis, Blogs ................ 11 What are Web sites, wikis, and blogs? ............................................... 11 Web Site, Wiki and Blog — Best Practices........................................... 11 On-line Communication SWOT Analysis .............................................. 13

Digital Communications Section...................................................15 Digital Communications Overview ..................................................... 15 What are Digital Communications? .................................................... 15 Digital Communications — Best Practices ........................................... 15 Digital Communications SWOT Analysis.............................................. 17

Glossary of Terms......................................................................20

References ...............................................................................22


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Mission Identify or recommend procedures, policies, best practices and strategies for the effective, innovative and appropriate use of Web, digital communications and social media.

Executive Summary This sub committee was chartered in late June 2009. We focused on staff and administrative uses for on-line, digital and social media communications. Faculty and student uses were not included due to the limited time frame. Effective transmission of communications requires a platform, a presentation, a message and an identified audience. Communication platforms and related presentations should be used as part of a coherent plan that applies the appropriate tools to specific tasks and tracks results. In the on-line, digital, and social media arenas, audiences expect certain etiquette, usability and accessibility standards. Transgressing these standards indicates a lack of respect for the audience by UF regardless of intent. Audiences are made of individuals. Each person interacts with communications in three stages:

1) Attention Somehow the person’s attention is drawn to UF communication. Push communications such as posters, flyers or mail (electronic or print, mass or individual) as well as other factors in the person’s life can generate attention;

2) Information The person learns more about UF, usually pulling information from other previously created communications and

3) Action The person takes an action based on the communication, sometimes as simple as thinking better of UF and telling a friend. In this stage the person may engage UF and other audience members in interactive communications.

Digital, online and social media communications have a risk/benefit profile; they are not free. Opportunity costs are always associated with each communication effort. Additionally, the ability of audience members to easily redistribute and repurpose online, digital, and social media communications leads to a higher risk or opportunity for unintended consequences. Communications on all platforms require research, goals, planning, production and on-going review. Staff time is limited and using unskilled and untrained people increases the risk profile of the activity. Amateur or untrained staff benefit from guidance from more professional, more experienced colleagues. Unskilled or untrained staff may cost little in dollars but potentially produce low quality results. In this context, it is better to do nothing than to do something poorly.


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Next steps

1) Coordinate and Collaborate

Online, electronic and social media communications involve the intersection of Information Technology, Web and Communications disciplines. Staff involved in these activities across UF should regularly coordinate efforts. Many audience members will see communications from different UF units. Collaboration among staff assigned to these responsibilities will also help improve consistency, increase quality and identify new opportunities.

2) Train and Leverage

Many people can now prepare and present communications on behalf of UF. UF should make training available about how best to do that well with appropriate information in the areas of Information Technology, Web and Communications. Everyone who communicates with an @ufl.edu email address or in an official UF venue has a professional responsibility to represent UF well. Professional, experienced staff may mentor and advise other staff who have been assigned similar tasks. However, this is a substantial commitment and should be recognized and scheduled as such by administration.

3) Plan, Execute, Review

Associate all communication efforts with a business plan and where practical a marketing and communication plan as well. Communications should have clear goals, identified audiences and regular review to verify accomplishments. In general, plan to post communications often and on a consistent schedule. Results often require months to be realized. Each communication effort will have an ongoing operations or maintenance component. Plan staff time appropriately to maintain high quality.

4) Continuously Improve

Charter a new or existing group to undertake a more comprehensive review of the platforms and presentations in the online, social media and digital communication areas. This group should regularly meet to review, analyze and update guidance. Include Privacy Office, General Counsel and others as appropriate.


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Social Media Communications Additional contributor: Prentiss Ladkani

Social Media Communications Overview We reviewed best practices among higher educational institutions as well as businesses and corporations who are actively working to leverage their time and effort on the various networks available for use. This section is a general guide for campus users with the understanding that every unit has different uses and needs based on their goals and the audience they are trying to reach. This is an overview and recommendations on the use of Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. Other platforms such as LinkedIn, Wikipedia, Google Maps, Google Documents, Flickr, YouTube, etc. will require the efforts of another group at a future date. Because of the quickly evolving nature of these platforms and opportunities, UF should charter a group to regularly review and recommend best practices.

What is Social Media? Social media is a means of communicating and networking with an audience online using a variety of channels. A channel is a collection of methods and technologies used on a specific platform. Using words, pictures, and videos, social media provides people the opportunity to share information, build relationships and develop a community. Social media allows multi-party communication between the communicator and the audience member(s). It allows people to discuss things that are relevant and/or useful to them regarding a product, service and/or organization. It's also a terrific opportunity for communicators to provide relevant information about a product, service or organization to interested parties on a platform that has low financial cost for distribution. However, the cost to create content and monitor the conversations remains substantial. Social media is interactive communication, involving both the push of communications to audience members and the pull of information by the audience members. These platforms allow and encourage the contribution of information and opinion by audience members. Although there are many niche social media platforms, this section focuses on some of the most widely used. While we provide best practices specific to these platforms, the guidelines will generally apply to others.

Social Media -- Best Practices

Content • Post regularly and reasonably often, keep a consistent schedule.

Diversification • Utilize multiple channels to achieve goals. Integrate Twitter, Facebook, Google

maps, blogs, Flickr, YouTube, etc. [1] • Utilize multiple sources of content, both by professionals within your unit and the

University, and by social media audience members. [1]


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Entertainment and Infotainment • Maintain a sense of humor while retaining professionalism. [1]

Evolution • A social media campaign must evolve to take advantage of new opportunities. [1]

Measure Results • Really. This is important. [1]

Demographics • Each social networking site is associated with different audience demographics.

Choose the site(s) that best match your social media strategy and goals. [2]

Twitter — Best Practices

Writing and Engaging Followers • Post regularly – Three to four tweets per day. Provide consistent, ongoing and

relevant content. Committed, ongoing effort over several months. [3] • Be retweet friendly — Limit tweet characters so that your message can be

rebroadcast or retweeted. This will allow your message to be virally sent out and still refer to your original site. For example, RT @UFnow would require 10 characters, so @UFnow should limit its tweets to 130 characters whenever possible. [4]

• Retweet — Retweet relevant material from UF and external sources. It builds a relationship between other media sources and followers and establishes you as a valuable source of information. [5]

• Acknowledge followers — When possible, a direct message thanking a follower for following your account builds rapport. [6]

Standards • Account Name — Name of profile should reflect name of UF name/unit, not

the person updating feed. Use the website and profile description to add further content about your unit and its mission. [7]

• Bio Information — Provide account owner/manager name in your Twitter bio - this provides transparency and accountability. If you use an application like CoTweet to allow for multiple managers, develop a standard of signing tweets so individual manager's contributions can be quantified. [8]

• Following — University Twitter feeds are encouraged to follow the feeds of other University units. [8]

• UF Policies — All produced content must adhere to current UF policy, including (but not limited to) the Acceptable Use Policy. Always remember that as an official UF Twitter account, you are representing the University. [9]

• Registration — Register with Web Administration in order to be added to a list of official Twitter accounts. This will provide a means of gaining followers and will also be an official verification of UF affiliation. [10]

Branding • Avatar — Create a branded avatar that represents both the University and your

unit. Good examples include: @CLASnotes, @UFJschool [11] • Background — Develop a Twitter background that reflects your University

branding and that of your unit. Example: @UFnow [11]


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Communications Strategy and Metrics • Leverage existing accounts — Consider the potential size of your audience. It

may be more effective to defer to another Twitter account for information about your area. For instance, a department could provide information that would be transmitted via their college account. [12]

• Determine commitment level — Decide on the type of account you want to manage. Blue Feugo indicates the two most successful Twitter accounts for higher education is the RSS feed type and the fully engaged member of the Twitter community. The former requires very little resources, while the latter a larger commitment to maintain. [12]

• Follow judiciously — As a general rule, follow everyone who follows your account - do not follow accounts set up specifically for marketing or spam purposes. Be selective in who you choose to follow unsolicited. Whom you follow can reflect on your account. [13]

• Track results– o Monitor feedback through Twitter Searches and Return Tweets. [14] o Monitor clickthroughs. Use link shorteners that will allow you to measure

which posts have greater impact on your followers. [15]

Facebook — Best Practices

Writing and Engaging Followers • Interaction

o Engage your users! The most effective University accounts are the ones that provide opportunities to interact with their "fans."

o The essence of social media is the interaction that happens between people.

o Allow users the opportunity to post comments on the wall. [16] o Open photos and videos to user content - but be sure to monitor for

content on a regular basis. [16] o Examples:

Stanford University has "Open Office Hours," where they allow users to ask questions to a particular University representative through comments and that person responds via video. [17]

Emory University conducted a successful campaign to increase student donations to the Alumni Foundation, using a combination of Facebook, Twitter, and print ads. In a seven month period, Emory raised $12,915, compared with $682 raised during the same period last year. [18]

o When possible, add visual content such as photos and videos. [19] o When posting a link to your page, pay attention to the image thumbnail

that Facebook wants to use for the link. [20] • Post regularly — People are following the Facebook page for a reason;

responsibly provide consistent, ongoing content [21] • Leverage existing content — Stream content from other sites – use

applications to pull RSS feeds, video, and photos from other websites to reduce the need to duplicate work already being performed to maintain your University web presence. [22, 23]


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• UF Policies — All produced content must adhere to current UF policy, including (but not limited to) the Acceptable Use Policy. Always remember that as an official UF account, you are representing the University. [24]

Standards • Pages— Build your Facebook presence using a Page instead of a Group. A

Facebook Page is more customizable than the group page, allows for more comprehensive monitoring and analytics, is indexable by Google Search, and allows the administrator to send a message to the entire group of subscribers (called Fans). It brands the page as belonging to the unit rather than to an individual. [25]

• Publish expectations — Provide a disclaimer that maintains support of First Amendment rights but also notes responsibilities of students and faculty. The UCLA disclaimer is a good starting point. [26]


unit. [27] • Layout — Add the Static FBML Application, which allows you to add new boxes

to your page that can include text, links and images as long as you have a basic working knowledge of HTML. http://www.hyperarts.com/blog/customizing-facebook-pages-with-static-fbml-application/. [28]

• Consistent URL — As soon as you reach 100 followers, select a URL that matches your organizations’ website. [29]

Communications Strategy and Metrics • Track results — Metrics and monitoring tools - Each page has a comprehensive

monitoring capability called Facebook Insights. This allows you to monitor the effectiveness of your page and to bring specific demographic information back your sponsor(s). Facebook Insights can also help you refine your Facebook advertising campaign, if you have one. [30]

• Audience — Review content, and measure how well your fans respond to it. Get to know your public. [31]

MySpace — Best Practices

Writing and Engaging Followers • Demographics — Consider you audience prior to building a MySpace page.

MySpace pages trend to younger users and are ideal for reaching pre-college audiences and specific targeted audiences.

• Interactions – o The essence of social media is the interaction between people. Allow users

the opportunity to post comments and on the wall. [16] o Open photos and videos to user content - but be sure to monitor for

content on a regular basis [16] • Post regularly — People are following your MySpace page for a reason and it is

your responsibility to provide consistent, ongoing content. • Leverage existing content — Stream content from other sites – use

applications to pull RSS feeds, video, and photos from other websites to reduce the need to duplicate work already being performed to maintain your University web presence. [22, 23]


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• UF Policies — All produced content must adhere to current UF policy, including (but not limited to) the Acceptable Use Policy. Always remember that as an official UF Twitter account, you are representing the University. [24]


unit. [27] • Layout — Make sure your graphics and color schemes do not impair the

readability of the page. [28]

Communications Strategy and Metrics • Publish expectations — Provide a disclaimer that maintains support of First

Amendment rights but also notes responsibilities of students and faculty. • Audience — Review each piece of content and measure how well your fans

respond to it. Get to know your public.

Social Media Communication SWOT Analysis Strengths — Internal Advantages

• The University community has large numbers of potential audience members, users and communicator who can disseminate news and information about the University of Florida.

• A robust network of social media accounts allows for a greater cross-collaboration of news and public relations among the different units and colleges.

• Most social media have very little start-up-costs in dollars. • Social Media is easy to use with basic computer office skills.

Weaknesses — Internal Disadvantages • Potential user pool makes consistency of message and larger strategy goals more

difficult. • Ease of setup makes tracking of various social media channels difficult.

Opportunities — External Advantages • Large, active potential audience eager to be part of a larger conversation. • Nature of social media allows for a message to become viral and for conversations

to grow past one-on-one communications by the University.

Threats — External Disadvantages • Possibility of having the message lost in the noise. • Other educational institutions engaging in social media. • Misrepresentations could be released and propagated.


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University Critical Path Twitter Accounts • @UFlorida — a general use Twitter account representing UF.

o Managed by UF Web Administration o Goal: Extension of UF critical path sites, provides general information of

interest to general public. o Tweets should include material from the UF critical path sites including

UF home page, research news, campus news, president, etc. o Include retweets from various college, departmental, and other relevant

Twitter feeds. • @UFNow — a primary tool for pointing out news mentioning UF

o Managed by: UF News Bureau o Goal: Noting and thanking reporters for stories that mention UF. o It should actively follow and retweet news from the colleges and

departments. • @insideUF — a primary tool to distribute material from campus

o Managed by: University Relations InsideUF Editor o Goal: Expand publication of information of interest regarding campus

activities and accomplishments including material from insideuf.ufl.edu o Actively search for material from around UF to share - for example, a

photo feed from Flickr or Facebook, podcasts now made available, video, etc. The UF Calendar should be tied to this Twitter feed - using Hootsuite to write timed tweets as events reminders.

University Critical Path Facebook Page • facebook.com/uflorida

o Current Operations: Use general UF news RSS feed to provide wall content

(feed://news.ufl.edu/research/feed/) Photo of the Day (http://news.ufl.edu/snapshots/2009/07/24/) Monthly spotlights from UFL.EDU

(http://www.ufl.edu/spotlight/) o Potential Expanded Future Operations:

Develop means of aligning "Gator Nation" marketing campaign with presence on Facebook.

Ongoing meetings to discuss social media, including trends, latest technologies and campaigns with interested UF community members.

Moderator / Reviewer read comments on Facebook and respond to questions or concerns

Ask current fans what information they would like to see Develop custom applications to increase engagement.

Example: Google Map which searches fans and posts their location on a map, showing that the "Gator Nation is Everywhere".

Audio Feed - MP3s of fight songs, alma mater Develop custom Facebook layout using FBML Coordinate with University of Florida Foundation to develop an

application for University Facebook pages that allow for donations


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of any level to unit / department donation accounts. Similarly coordinate with existing mGive application.

Develop custom Facebook "gifts" for users to give and share that have the UF branding.

Provide short form news video/audio relative to UF research Use competition to promote increased fan attachment

Best in the SEC campaign - Provide fan numbers for SEC schools and promote competition to be the most followed SEC school


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Online Communications

Online Communications Overview — Web Sites, Wikis, Blogs As the Federal Web Manager's Council put it, "web communication [is] a core government business function." This section identifies, describes, and recommends how the University should compile, practice, and propagate best practices for web sites, wikis, and blogs.

What are Web sites, wikis, and blogs? A Web site is a collection of related pages, images, videos or other digital assets that are addressed with a common domain name or IP address in an Internet Protocol-based network. A page is a document, typically written in plain text interspersed with formatting instructions of Hypertext Markup Language (HTML, XHTML). A site is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via the Internet or a private local area network. The pages of a site can usually be accessed from a simple Uniform Resource Locator (URL) called the homepage. A static web page is "pull" communication, as it allows the user to pull information from the pages at any time. A wiki is a collaborative site that uses wiki software, allowing easy creation and editing of any number of interlinked pages, using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor, within the browser. Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites, to power community sites, and for note taking. A wiki is a collaboration tool where the pages can be changed and instantly published using a Web browser. No programming is required. Sites running such programs are themselves referred to as wikis. A wiki involves both pull and contribute communications. A blog is a type of Web site with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material. 'Blog' is a contraction of "Web-log." Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. Readers’ ability to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. Many blogs are similar to online diaries, but the format has exploded in recent years to include news sites, commercial sites which include advertising, etc. Free, easy-to-use blogging tools such as Blogger and Wordpress have contributed to the increased visibility of blogs in mass media. A simple set of office related computer skills and communications skills are the basic user requirements. A blog is "push/pull" communication, as commenting on blog posts is a basic blog function.

Web Site, Wiki and Blog — Best Practices

UF Web Standards • Establish, publish and implement – Web standards for UF web activity

need to be established, publicized, and adopted. • Identify vendor responsibility – Many web tools and platforms are provided

by third party vendors. The Web Standards policy should include an analysis of when UF may use third party systems that do not meet UF Web Standards.

UF Web Identity Standards • Publicize — Current and future UF Web identity standards should be more

effectively promoted


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• Expand — UF Web identity standards should be expanded to include standards for UF presence on 3rd party sites, i.e. YouTube, Facebook, Blogger, as these are venues currently in use by UF communicators, officially and unofficially.

Project Management • Standard Web Project Template

o We advocate the creation of a standardized Web site project management template which would include the following:

audience objective strategy deliverables owners timeline metrics

o This template would function as a pre-launch checklist and would serve as a beginning point for discussions between local web administration staff and the day to day manager of the Web site content.

• Feedback Form o In addition to the current UF policy that all UF sites contain a "means of

contacting the person(s) responsible for maintaining the page content," we recommend that gateway pages should have a method by which people can send feedback. The “feedback” or “comment” link may contain an e-mail address or link to a page that helps to properly direct the feedback to the appropriate person, or a link to a form.

• Training and more training o Producing a first class Web site or other online communication requires

skills and familiarity with some amount of Information Technology, Web, and Communications disciplines.

o Communicators should be trained in the related skills and standards associated with online professional communication. Case Studies in training and professional development for web accessibility: http://athenpro.org/node/59

o Understand and evaluate who creates Web sites and content on campus. Professionals range from Web Managers, IT Managers and Graphic Designers to Marketing and Public Relations professionals. Some office managers are de-facto Web site managers.

o Provide specialized training that compliments and completes the background of the folks doing the work.

o Examples: Web standards and UF Web identity standards. Writing for the web — Web content should have 50% smaller word

count than its paper equivalent. How to handle audience comments and contributions.

• Explain expectations — For blogs and wikis, and social media, determine ahead of time whether posts will be monitored or approved prior to posting. If even one post is edited/censored, then all must be. If none are to be monitored, there should be a standardized disclaimer that precedes the content, perhaps with help from the General Counsel's Office.


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On-line Communication SWOT Analysis

Overall – On-line Communications Strengths

• Designing and building with these standards simplifies and lowers the cost of production, while delivering sites that are accessible to more people and more types of Internet devices. Sites developed along these lines will continue to function correctly as traditional desktop browsers evolve, and as new Internet devices come to market.

• Many groups and standards bodies have established technologies for creating and interpreting Web-based content. These technologies are carefully designed to deliver the greatest benefits to the greatest number of Web users while ensuring the long-term viability of any document published on the Web.

• Using Web standards ensures efficiency of code, ease of maintenance, accessibility, device capability and search engine optimization. [31]

Weaknesses • Requires an up-to-date, skilled and trained professional if training is not offered. • May be costly if there isn’t anyone on staff who can do it. • Would adhering to Web standards be monitored? Who will do this? How will it

be enforced?

Opportunities • Opportunity to make all pages under UFL.EDU accessible to, and findable by, the

largest possible audience, including current and prospective students, faculty, staff and donors, while ensuring that code will remain relevant as browsers and technology evolves.

• While there exist clear standards governing the use of UF's logo and wordmark (http://www.identity.ufl.edu), as well as policies in place governing accessibility, acceptable use, etc. (http://www.webadmin.ufl.edu/policies/index.html), there is no clear UF policy regarding adoption of Web standards for all activities presented on the Web.

Threats • Target was forced to pay $6 million after a court ruled that they had not held up

minimum accessibility standards on Target.com. [33, 34, 35] • We risk alienating people with disabilities or even some using mobile phones to

access our Web site. • Standards based sites are ranked more highly in search engines. Reduced

standards compliance reduces visibility and findability of UF sites.

Project Management Manual/Template Strengths

• Encourages creation of professional sites. • UF's Web presence is enhanced through uniformity; variation is reduced. • Spend more time planning sites pre-launch, less time "putting out fires."

Weaknesses • Who would administer the program? • Would adherence to the template be compulsory?


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Opportunities • Streamlining and further enhancing UF's Web presence

Threats • Wasting manpower fixing bad code. • Creation of sites that are substandard, poorly branded, or dysfunctional.

Feedback/Comment Form Strengths

• Both email and forms are proven technologies. • Will aid in redesign/reconfiguration of Web sites. • A valuable metric in today's assessment-driven climate.

Weaknesses • Requires redesign/revision of existing Web sites. • May not be fully utilized by audience. • May provide skewed metrics (only very happy or displeased folks usually bother

posting comments).

Opportunities • Gain valuable insight via Web analytics. • Show an increasing level of attention to interactivity and communication

Threats • Appearing indifferent to users. • Not being aware of flaws in sites, design, usability. • Having exposed mailto: links on a page could cause large volumes of junk email. • Poorly executed forms could be a security threat.

Creation of Training for Web Communicators Strengths

• Creates common skills among all UF Web communicators. • Enhanced professionalism, efficiency of Web communicators, saving

time/money. • Could include opportunity to publicize key messages.

Weaknesses • Will cost time and money to create, implement training. • May be difficult to create a standard training appropriate for all communicators.

Opportunities • Create a culture of communicators all "speaking the same language."

Threats • Continuing the lack of cohesion of Web sites under the aegis of UF.


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Digital Communications Section

Digital Communications Overview This section identifies, describes and recommends how the University should compile, practice, and propagate best practices for digital communications.

What are Digital Communications? Typically, digital communications is a general term for describing a matrix of tools used for the electronic exchange of information. For this report, digital communications is defined as email (memos, newsletters, listservs, etc.); video (news, videoconferencing, video production, streaming video); podcasting (audio & video); chats and internet messaging; Google docs; Skype; and Second Life. Digital communications is not a monolithic concept but something that can be understood in terms of how it functions. The mode by which the information is communicated varies greatly with the specific form. An email communicates differently than a podcast. By extension, the best practices will be specific to the platform and presentation used. Each digital communication has a platform, a presentation, a message or content and an identified audience.

Digital Communications — Best Practices

Continuous Research and Review • Ongoing effort — Create and sustain a group charged with:

o Researching the field for technical developments and implementing innovations; and

o Monitoring the efficient use of existing University resources. o This group could be part of the UF Communications Network (UFCN),

but should include representation from all areas of electronic communications including Information Technology and Web.

• Policy survey — Conduct a study of all policies regarding electronic communications on campus, which may lead to a recommendation of best practices for all units on campus.

Existing UF Services and Standards • Publicize — Current and future digital communication services should be more

effectively promoted. • Utilize – Encourage staff engaged in communications to provide information on

features, pricing or service agreements provided by external or third party solutions. With this information UF service providers or UF purchasing may be able to assist with improving solutions for all UF communicators.

• Expand – Extend UF identity standards to incorporate video productions, podcasts, videos posted to YouTube and other digital communications.


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Appropriate skills, experience, training, and collaboration • Consistent foundation — Specialized training/development aimed at creating

highly-skilled communicators with a common skill set and a common frame of reference.

• Consistent knowledge — Specialized training/development for non-professional communicators that would include identity standards, the Sunshine Law, resources on campus, appropriate UF policies and recommendations for tools based on the individual's level of expertise.

• Collaborate — Duplicative work occurs on campus when multiple professionals are researching various future technologies and tools for communications. The University could maximize efficiency by providing guidance to individuals involved in producing and overseeing professional communications. Both communications professionals and other staff would benefit from awareness regarding the pros and cons of various technologies.

Email • Opt-In — Electronic newsletters set via email should always use opt-in to

identify audience • Teasers — Encourage use of teaser emails, driving consumers to Web sites,

maybe avoiding inbox clutter. Coordinate multiple channels. • Brevity — Keep it short. • Schedule — Coordination of mass emails, in terms of scheduling and lists, to

avoid duplication. • UF Policies — As email is not an emerging technology, policies already in place

(http://www.it.ufl.edu/policies/aupolicy.html) should suffice. • Abuse — The Acceptable Use Policy should more strongly instruct the

forwarding of unacceptable uses to [email protected].

Video and Audio: • Clarity — Organize campus video services into distinct groups: video streaming

and storage; video conferencing; video production, audio. • Staffing — Hire graduate students with specialized, appropriate knowledge in

the field, and keep them around long enough to realize return on training.

Podcasts: • Extra Channel — Use podcasts as a complement to more traditional

communication methods. • Measure Results — Use FeedBurner (a Google service) or similar to track

subscriptions, demographics, etc.

Instant Messaging, Video Conferencing, Web Meetings, Internet Phones:

• Extra Channel — Use as a complement to other communications means • Similar to phone — Treat as transient communication, similar to a telephone

call or working group

Third-Party Services: • External Policy — Develop a policy regarding University use of free third-party

solutions such as Google docs as it relates to privacy, security and appropriateness.


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Digital Communications SWOT Analysis

Overall –

Strengths • Dedicated and committed staff create and publish great UF communications.

Weaknesses • In general, UF employees are not aware or don't take advantage of what is

already available on campus and this leads to inefficiencies, including: o Spending more money purchasing services or products off-campus. o Purchasing products that are not compatible with the current technology

on campus. o Purchasing products or initiating services already deployed by other

areas, without regard for whether cross-departmental collaboration or sharing of facilities would be possible.

o Making decisions regarding communications without understanding University rules, regulations and policies.

Opportunities • Build on success; expand into areas where less experienced staff are contributing. • Extensive volume and diversity of communications allows for micro-marketing to

build stronger relationships with audience members. • How do we best separate message from noise in a very noisy world? Students

especially are inundated with information and banners and emails, and how do we make it stick? All of our efforts as communicators are for naught if we don't address students' information gathering habits.

• What are we doing to manage communication at locations where there is guaranteed traffic, like the Web mail portal, or my.ufl, or ISIS? These are places where short info updates might have a higher readership due to the traffic pattern on these sites.

Threats • Extensive volume and diversity of communications — may be seen as

overwhelming, inconsistent or incoherent. • In addition, the volume and diversity of communications on campus leads to

digital communications being created and managed by those not professionally trained in communications, which may cause the following risk exposure:

o Loss of the University's trademark (due to misuse or unapproved use of the UF logo).

o Negative affect on University's brand as unprofessional digital communications are produced.

o Negative impact on University's relationship with key audiences (students, alumni, donors, prospective students, legislators, etc.) as communications are used ineffectively.

o Spending resources (time and money) on products and services that don't meet the intended objectives.


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Email

Strengths • Large audiences. • Ability to gather metrics. • Ease of use.

Weaknesses • Low open rates. • Not as compelling as video, flash, etc. • HTML formatted email can appear differently, depending on platform, method

(client or Web mail).

Opportunities • Ability to drive traffic and engagement to UF Web sites.

Threats • Spamming, inbox crowding, overlap.

Video Services, Video Production and Audio Production

Strengths • Encourages interaction with peer institutions, especially regarding setting up

video conferencing. As a result, we learn about what other universities are doing or looking at, technology-wise.

• On demand content from anywhere. • Videoconferencing saves travel expenditures. • Connects diverse audiences. • YouTube etc. allows video content to be hosted off-site, easily accessible to public.

Weaknesses • Lack of clarity: Users should be more familiar with the different activities

associated with video services and video production. • Promotion: Video Services will often be consulted secondarily AFTER a

department has researched and purchased video conferencing or video production equipment. If more groups were aware of their services, more groups would use them and curtail University spending.

• Technical hardware, software overhead.

Opportunities • More formats. • There's no Flash server on campus • Ability to drive traffic, engagement to UF Web sites. • Strengthen ties between video services and video production. • Create and propagate UF identity standards for video and audio.

Threats • Control: do we host these on our video servers or with providers? • With ubiquity of YouTube, etc., unauthorized video posters may post pseudo-

content.


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Podcasts Strengths

• .mp3 format is widespread, cross-platform, relatively small file size. • Potential to reach students is high with ubiquity of iPod and iPhone. • Once podcast is subscribed to, receives updates automatically. • Can be hosted locally or by Video Services. • Good metrics using FeedBurner.

Weaknesses • Subscribing to podcasts requires some degree of tech savvy. • Podcasts only reach consumers who choose to hear your message.

Opportunities • iPod/iPhone etc. use is on rise—required for some (Pharmacy School). • Communicating with a growing, info-savvy demographic. • Use for exhibits, walking tours, etc.

Threats • Appearing to be behind the times.

Internet Messaging, Video Conferencing, Web Meetings, Internet phone Strengths

• Fast updates for local software. • Ease of use.

Weaknesses • Audience: may not reach everybody; should be used in conjunction with other

means (email, sound systems alarms, etc.).

Opportunities • More individuals using laptops, text messaging.

Threats • Security, hacking.

Third-Party Services (Google docs, etc.) Strengths

• No additional infrastructure, costs. Cross-platform functionality. • Third party bears development, storage, infrastructure costs.

Weaknesses • Data lives off-site. Possible security/privacy issues.

Opportunities • Share more broadly and more easily with a larger global community. • In budget-conscious times, free services make sense. • Threats • Inability to communicate easily with current users of these established services. • Staff turnover raises retention and destruction issues.


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Glossary of Terms Digital Communication: Content that is experienced by the user by means of a computer or mobile device. Digital communication, for our purposes, includes the tools used to create the content.

Facebook: A social media Web site where individuals sign up and connect to other people to share news, videos, and stories. Organizations can join Facebook by creating either Fan Page or Group Page. Fan Pages are open to anyone who chooses to join. Group pages require a moderator to approve a person to join the page. Fan pages also allow an administrator to measure the viewing statistics and metrics of the page, which a group page does not. Fans: Individuals in Facebook that have chosen to follow the news feed and posts of a Fan Page. See FACEBOOK FeedBurner: A Web feed management provider launched in 2004. FeedBurner provides custom RSS feeds and management tools to bloggers, podcasters, and other Web-based content publishers. Flash: A multimedia platform distributed by Adobe Systems. Since its introduction in 1996, Flash has become a popular method for adding animation and interactivity to Web pages. Flash is commonly used to create animation, various Web page components, and to integrate video into Web pages. Followers: Persons following a twitter feed. See TWITTER. Google docs: A free, Web-based word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, and form application offered by Google. It allows users to create and edit documents online while collaborating in real-time with other users.

Group Page: See FACEBOOK. Interactive Communications: Information flows multi-directionally, the audience member pulls content, then contributes back new contributions to the content provider or other users, and sometimes republishes content to new audience members adding a push component as well in certain circumstances. Blogs, wikis, and social media are interactive communications. Listserv: The first electronic mailing list software application, consisting of a set of email addresses for a group in which the sender can send one email and it will reach a variety of people. LISTSERV is a registered trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the Swedish Patent and Registration Office, PRV. As such, using the word "listserv" to describe a different product or as a generic term for any email-based mailing list of that kind is a trademark misuse. The standard generic terms are electronic mailing list, elist, or email list for the list itself, and email list manager or email list software for the software product that manages the list. UF provides an email list manager at lists.ufl.edu.


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Podcasting: A series of digital computer files, usually either digital audio or video, that is released periodically and made available for download by means of Web syndication. Push Communications: A type of communication that is pushed into the hands or accounts of the audience members. Examples include email, RSS feeds (after selection by user), printed mailed flyers or other publications. Pull Communications: A type of communication where the audience members searches for the information or topic of interest. The communicator publishes information in a static location and standard format with which the audience members choose to interact. Examples include Web sites, podcasts, video, and PDFs or other printable publications.

Retweet: The action that resends a message generated by another person in Twitter. Second Life: A virtual world developed by Linden Lab that launched on June 23, 2003 and is accessible via the Internet. A free client program called the Second Life Viewer enables its users, called Residents, to interact with each other through avatars. Skype: a software application that allows users to make voice calls over the Internet via computer. Some calls are free and some require a fee. Social Media: A method of communicating and networking online using a variety of different methods and technologies. Using words, pictures and videos, social media provides people the opportunity to share information, build relationships and develop a community. Examples include Facebook.com, MySpace.com and LinkedIn.com Streaming Video: Video that is received by, and normally presented to, an end-user while being delivered by a streaming provider (the term "presented" is used in this article in a general sense that includes audio or video playback). The name refers to the delivery method of the medium rather than to the medium itself. Tweet: The act of posting or sending a message on Twitter. Also used as a synonym for the message. Tweets have a maximum of 140 characters. Twitter: A free mico-blogging service that enables its users to send and read messages known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the author's profile page and delivered to the author's subscribers who are known as followers. Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends or, by default, allow open access. Users can send and receive tweets via the Twitter Website, Short Message Service (SMS) or external applications. Video Conferencing: A videoconference (also known as a videoteleconference) is a set of interactive telecommunication technologies which allow two or more locations to interact via two-way video and audio transmissions simultaneously. It has also been called visual collaboration and is a type of groupware. It differs from videophone in that it is designed to serve a conference rather than individuals.


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References [1] All Recommendations

• mStonerblog. Best Practices for .Edu Social Media Advancement Campaigns, 2009. http://www.mstonerblog.com/index.php/blog/comments/best_practices_for_edu_social_media_ advancement_campaigns/

[2] Listing Manager/Managers of Account

• Blue Fuego Webinar. Twitter in Higher Education - Brad J. Ward. 2009. Twitter: Best Practices [3] Post Regularly

• Change.org. 10 Insights Gained from Spending 7,280 Hours on Social Media Websites, Heather Mansfield. 2009. http://nonprofits.change.org/blog/view/10_insights_gained_from_spending_7280_hours_on_social_media_websites

• Sysomos. Inside Twitter - The More Followers, the More You Tweet, Alex Cheng and Mark Evans. 2009. http://www.sysomos.com/insidetwitter/

[4] Limit Tweet Size for Retweeting

• Blogging Bits. How to Retweet: A Simple Guide, AJ Vaynerchuk. 2009. http://bloggingbits.com/the-art-and-science-of-retweeting-for-twitteraholics/

[5] Retweeting Other Sources


• seoconsultants.com. Twitter Retweets - RT @ Rules of Engagement, Edward Lewis. 2009. http://www.seoconsultants.com/twitter/retweet/

[6] Thanking Followers


• Blue Fuego Webinar. Twitter in Higher Education - Brad J. Ward. 2009. [7] Twitter Settings

• examiner.com. Twitter 101: How do I set up a Twitter account, Cheryl Phillips. 2009. http://www.examiner.com/x-14552-Providence-Social-Media-Examiner~y2009m7d26-Twitter-101-How-do-I-set-up-a-Twitter-account

• PR 20/20. Twitter Strategy: The Incomplete Guide for Beginners, Paul Roetzer. 2009. http://www.pr2020.com/page/twitter-strategy-the-incomplete-guide-for-beginners

[8] Listing Manager/Managers of Account

• Blue Fuego Webinar. Twitter in Higher Education - Brad J. Ward. 2009.


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• seoconsultants.com. Twitter Retweets - RT @ Rules of Engagement, Edward Lewis. 2009. http://www.seoconsultants.com/twitter/retweet/

[9] Acceptable Use Policy

• University of Florida Web Administration. Acceptable Use Policy. 2009. http://www.it.ufl.edu/policies/aupolicy.html

[10] Web Administration Lists

• http://www.webadmin.ufl.edu/resources/lists/ [11] Branding

• University of Florida Identity Standards.2009. http://www.identity.ufl.edu

[12] Size and Type of Accounts

• Blue Fuego Webinar. Twitter in Higher Education - Brad J. Ward. 2009. [13] Following Recommendations

• Change.org. 10 Insights Gained from Spending 7,280 Hours on Social Media Websites, Heather Mansfield. 2009. http://nonprofits.change.org/blog/view/10_insights_gained_from_spending_7280_hours_on_social_media_websites

• CNET News. Why you should follow everyone who follows you on Twitter. 2009. http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10138918-2.html

[14] Monitor Feedback

• The Viral Garden. So Is It Worth it to be Monitoring Twitter? Mack Collier, 2009. http://moblogsmoproblems.blogspot.com/2009/02/so-is-it-worth-it-to-be-monitoring.html

[15] Monitor Clickthroughs

• Metrics Insider. Twitter Metrics. David L. Smith, 2009. http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=98285

Facebook: Best Practices [16] Open Discourse

• DIOSA | Communications. Facebook Best Practices. 2009. http://www.diosacommunications.com/facebookbestpractices.htm

[17] Engaging Audience

• Stanford Facebook Page. 2009. http://www.facebook.com/stanford


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[18] Engaging Audience • mStonerblog. The Blue Pig Campaign: FTF + Facebook + Twitter +

More = Annual Fund Increases. Michael Stoner, 2009. http://www.mstonerblog.com/index.php/blog/comments/662/the_blue_pig_campaign_ftf_facebook_twitter_more_annual_fund_increases

[19] Video and Photos

• Inside Facebook. 10 Key Strategies Every Facebook Owner Should Know. 2009. http://www.insidefacebook.com/2009/07/13/seo-facebook-pages-10-key-strategies/

[20] Thumbnails

• Ask Insivia. So, how do I change that Facebook thumbnail image? 2009. http://askinsivia.com/so-how-do-i-change-that-facebook-thumbnail-image/

[21] Posting Frequency

• MarketingProfs Daily Fix. 5 Tips for Optimizing your Facebook Marketing. Paul Dunay, 2009. http://www.mpdailyfix.com/2009/06/5_tips_for_optimizing_your_fac.html

[22] Stream Content

• MarketingProfs Daily Fix. 5 Tips for Optimizing your Facebook Marketing. Paul Dunay, 2009. http://www.mpdailyfix.com/2009/06/5_tips_for_optimizing_your_fac.html

[23] Stream Content

• PR Interactive. Facebook Pages: Using Them to Benefit Your Organization, Meg Roberts. 2009. http://megroberts.wordpress.com/2008/08/06/facebook-pages-using-them-to-benefit-your-organization

[24] Acceptable Use Policy

• University of Florida Web Administration. Acceptable Use Policy. 2009. http://www.it.ufl.edu/policies/aupolicy.html

[25] Using Facebook Pages


[26] Disclaimer

• UCLA Comments Policy, Facebook http://www.facebook.com/uclabruins?ref=search#/uclabruins?v=box_3&viewas=2038976&ref=search


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[27] Branding • University of Florida Identity Standards. 2009.

http://www.identity.ufl.edu [28] FBML Application

• Inside Facebook. 10 Key Strategies Every Facebook Owner Should Know. 2009. http://www.insidefacebook.com/2009/07/13/seo-facebook-pages-10-key-strategies/

[29] Vanity URL

• DIOSA | Communications. Facebook Best Practices. 2009. http://www.diosacommunications.com/facebookbestpractices.htm

[30] Page Insights


[31] Gauging Feedback

• Red Right and New. 6 Tips for Building Effective Facebook Pages. 2009. http://redrightandnew.wordpress.com/2009/04/08/6-tips-for-building-effective-facebook-pages/

• [32] Web Standards

• Introduction to The Web Standards -- http://dev.opera.com/articles/view/1-introduction-to-the-web-standards-cur/#webstandards

• [33] Target Ruling

• Final NFB Target lawsuit settlement: http://www.nfbtargetlawsuit.com/final_settlement.html

[34] Target Ruling

• National Federation of the Blind v. Target Corporation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Federation_of_the_Blind_v._Target_Corporation

[35] Target Ruling

• Target sued for refusing to make their website accessible: http://www.456bereastreet.com/archive/200603/target_sued_for_refusing_to_make_their_website_accessible/

UF Online and Electronic Communications Subcommittee Report

Documents

digital communications

twitter best practices

facebook best practices

blog best practices

myspace best practices

appropriate use of web

sub committee

executive summary